VFXhack

As all of you probably know by now, the Writers Guild of America is now officially on strike. You may also know that the last time the WGA went in strike in 1988 it lasted 22 weeks and left the skeletal remains of many VFX shops in it’s wake. Only time will tell how this strike will evolve, but in the mean time, I’ve compiled a short list of suggestions of how you, the VFX professional, can ride out the storm.  

1. Sell your useless junk – The workplace of a VFX artist can be an untapped Ebay goldmine. First edition vinyl figures (or “dolls”), high end game controllers and signed 1st edition hard cover graphic novels are some of the not-so-buried treasures of the desktop that can be exploited for quick cash. Let’s just hope you kept the original box for that 15″ IG-88! 
2. Help flood the job market – Woody Allen once said “Those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach, teach Visual Effects” Well, not really but you get the point. Without any new movies or TV shows to keep you busy, all you need to do is march on over to one of the 15-20 VFX schools that surround every major (and most minor) cities in the US. From the breadth of knowledge displayed by some recent grads of these McVFX institutes (don’t get me wrong there are some good schools out there), it should be to hard to get a teaching position. 
3. Lower your expectations – I probably shouldn’t share this one as it may cause unwanted competition for me if the strike lasts to long, but here goes. VFX for the masses! Ever wanted to have The White Stripes play at your wedding. How about a Bar Mitzvah featuring a special guest appearance by Radiohead. All you need is a few yards of green fabric, a copy of After Effects and WHAMMY! Instant revenue stream.
4. Repurpose you secondary skills – When you think about it, there are a few things that VFX pros are very well suited for that don’t have anything to do with VFX at all. I think any animator would make a great Aeron chair stress tester. I also hear that Microsoft is looking for a team of thousands to beta test Halo 4 thru Halo 12. It’s time to think outside the box people. I’m sure the processed food industry is dying for test subjects who are willing to ingest nothing but Kraft Cheese-N-Crackers and Diet Coke for months on end.
5. Dispense unwanted advice – During the strike there will be plenty of time for everything from thoughtful debate to idle chit-chat. Yes you too could start your very own Visual Effects Blog. You’ll have plenty of spare time to write posts. I plan to up many publishing rate to 3 – 4 posts per day. Hey if you can’t spend your time actually creating visual effects you might as well read about ‘em, right?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 4:53 pm and is filed under news, opinion, vfx, visual effects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.